“Nearly a third of all iPhone calls made in the New York City area are dropped, according to a Genius Bar technician at Apple’s SoHo retail store,” MacNN reports.
“A person who recently brought his iPhone 3G to the outlet says he complained of being repeatedly disconnected, thinking the issue was related to faulty hardware,” MacNN reports. “On testing, the Genius is noted to have discovered that over 22 percent of the phone’s calls had been dropped.”
MacNN reports, “That result is actually better than normal, the technician claims, citing a regional average of 30 percent.”
Full article here.
You mean former tech.
LOL…MadMac. You made my day.
I note about a 30% average of dropped calls myself…but there is also a percentage of just weak or garbled calls some of which are just digital noise…probably in the 3% range of all calls. Some of this is just in the nature of cellular communications. But a lot of it is due to the locations of the cell towers AT&T;has (Verizon really is better in terms of total coverage)…and the need to continue to build the network. In an urban environment It’s tougher to get truly blanket coverage since the cell tower real estate is more limited and compromised.
As bad as 30 percent sounds (and it’s bloody awful), I’d take it. I get exactly ZERO bars where I live. As in, can’t have an iPhone.
So suck it up, New York.
(and get better ATnT)
I actually have to say that the ATT coverage in my area (north Phoenix) has steadily improved from the first time I bought my iPhone (initial launch) to now. But on a recent trip to NYC/Newark area I noticed a considerable drop in connection quality and increase in dropped calls.
Wow, even 22% is terrible. 30% is crazy horrible.
In my neck of the woods, I probably drop 5-10% of my calls at the most. The only exception is when I talk to my old man in his house behind a hill in a small city… I probably lose him 20-30% of the time.
Maybe 1% dropped here in buffalo and that’s only when I have less than 2 bars. AT&T;works wonderfully here.
Except for the whole being in Buffalo part?
In the Denver area you’ll have way fewer drops, and longer battery life, if you turn off 3G. I keep 3G off full time and get maybe 2 drops a year. With 3G – 2 per day.
The problem isn’t the iPhone or even ATT, it is the concrete canyons of Manhattan and surrounding environs.
You’d have to put a tower on top of every other skyscraper to overcome the canyon effect, or change the freqs used to 700Mhz. 900Mhz just can’t do it (not enough penetration power).
I honestly think it’s either faulty hardware or a bad sim.. Unless that customer was in a hole having those dropped call issues I highly think that’s true..
I don’t have a iPhone. This seems to be a story made up by M$, Sprint or Verizon. I don’t have dropped calls onT-mobile in my area.
@ PhxDoc:
I live in North Phoenix also, and my coverage has steadily improved to where a dropped call is actually getting rare. I have more calls dropped from the other user’s mobile phone (you can tell they’re driving) than from my iPhone.
@ Gregg Thurman:
ATT was shown to have pretty poor dropped call rates in NYC in a recent study. Verizon was much better (as were Sprint and T-Mobile), so ATT needs to improve in NYC and get service to additional areas (like Wisconsin, more areas in the Midwest).
Although I’m not defending ATT (too much), I don’t think any carrier could have predicted the data usage demanded by iPhone users, especially once the App Store came online, let alone actually have the infrastructure to support it. Kudos to ATT for working to improve its network, but boos as well for taking so long and not finding some solution to a major market like NYC.
I no longer get dropped calls, even when I’m driving (legally with the included earbuds in one ear – love the voice command calling)
It wasn’t always that lucky, ATT has improved a lot in my area (Long Beach/Orange County CA) I can even make calls in my house!
@ MidWest Mac
I hear ya! (Or not!?) Same problem where I live. And what data coverage AT&T;has anywhere near me is still EDGE, not 3G.
Things could be worse than being in Buffalo – you could be in NYC or Phoenix.
(Coming at ya from the the Finger Lakes, NY)
I get about 80%-90% of my calls dropped. I should probably stop calling my ex-girlfriend….
My drop total in Baltimore has been zero in about 15 months since I left Verizon and came to AT&T;with an iPhone. I must be doing something wrong.
No problems in L.A., all of SoCal, Owens Valley. Dropped calls are rare, 3G always available except in remote mt./desert areas. Even had good coverage in SF/SFO area, maybe because it was a weekend.
AT&T;rules!!!! You guys are just haters
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In my area of North Jersey, there is seldom a problem. I am aware of places that the calls can be lost due to high power lines or drops in the landscape that signals can not get to.
The question to the city people would be, are you sitting still or moving? Walking between buildings, elevators, … You know, the kind of things that shield and damped electromagnetic waves. If so, don’t do that or move to where that obstacles will not be there like.
When there’s no competition. The deal Steve made with AT&T;sucks more than ever – worst deal he ever made with anybody. Very un-Steve like.
Since he monitors the MDN discussions… Steve, WHY?
It’s the New Yorker’s fault, they are so rude that who ever they talk to, hangs up…. hehe
@Macaholic…
“Except for the whole being in Buffalo part?”
I actually snorted my coffee out my nose.
Since July of 2007, I have only had one dropped call on my iPhone, and it’s not clear which carrier dropped it. Of course, it helps that I live in the suburbs of a major city, the terrain is flat, the buildings aren’t tall, and I’m never more than a mile or two from an interstate.
Coverage is bad inside a building with girders because it’s essentially a Faraday cage, and it is impossible to get coverage inside a metal box, like an elevator. Tall buildings, mountains, hills, tunnels, and stuff like that affect coverage no matter who the carrier is.
I’m in NY and rarely have dropped calls. I would say no more than 5%. I find 30% hard to believe. In any case, Steve Balmer says that 30% is a only a rounding error anyway.